Has anyone contacted Microsoft about this, or is that a
silly question?
The silliness doesn't really apply at the "question" level, so much as the
"asker" level. Yes, Microsoft knows about this. Everyone knows about this.
You have the Blaster worm. If you don't have updated definitions of your AV
software, it may tell you that you don't have any infections when in fact
you do. You need to keep that firewall going at ALL times, especially if
you're on cable/T1/other permanent connection. You need to update your AV
software. You need to remove msblast.exe from your computer. You need to get
ALL Windows Service Packs (order them on CD if you can't download them, ask
a friend to download them for you, whatever it takes). Then, if you're still
having problems, come back and ask a "silly" question. But read the other
posts first, your questions will probably be answered more than once.
KB